I was very impressed by the European teams, especially Germany, Sweden and Norway. They've improved tremendously in the last four years and can now count themselves among the world's top teams. That Germany have been so successful can be put down to new strategies. Aside from improving their ball skills, they have worked on their speed and may even be faster than China now. The German side also boasts some outstanding individual talents. Aside from star forward Birgit Prinz, they have a number of other players who can steal the ball, beat the defence and create openings. This gives them more offensive options, which translates into more goals.
By contrast, China's attack is more one-dimensional, and therefore easier to defend against. Also, China did not move the ball as quickly as they should have and that affected the quantity and quality of their attacks on goal, and while China did create far more opportunities than any of their opponents in their four games, they were unable to convert, scoring only three goals in four games.
This year's FIFA Women's World Cup has given us a few new issues to contend with. First, we saw that a lot of teams have made huge progress, narrowing the gap between the top sides and the middle of the pack. The European teams are the clearest examples. Another interesting development is the increasingly prominent role of physical characteristics like height, speed and strength. Of the eight teams that made it to the quarter finals, Canada was the team with the weakest technique, yet they were still able to topple favourites China by using their physical edge and an aggressive style of play.
I was also impressed with the USA's strong physical game, despite the fact that the average age on the USA squad is higher than most other teams this year. While the USA-Germany semi-final ended 3-0 for Germany, it was actually a fairly balanced 1-0 game going into injury time. China could also learn from Korea DPR in this respect – with a little more experience the North Koreans could be the team to watch over the next few years.
China fought their way to the Final in 1999 with a tenacious, confident playing style, allied to the kind of confidence and will to win needed to bring the team's skills and technique into play.
I think after this World Cup, a number of countries will have to make major changes before the next tournament. China specifically will have to make changes as many of their core players are approaching 30 and will be retiring. As the largest country in Asia and the former Asian champions, China have a difficult road ahead as they look forward to 2007.